Garment finisher shoulder adjusting means



Qct. 16, 1962 F. H. RICHTERKESSING 3,058,635

GARMENT FINISHER SHOULDER ADJUSTING MEANS Filed June 15, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENT0R- F/MA/A a. m/cmmrssswe 1 BY Oct. 16, 1962 F. H. RICHTERKESSING 3,05

GARMENT FINISHER SHOULDER ADJUSTING MEANS Filed June 15, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR F159! 6. ilcllrffilrsssm's Oct. 16, 1962 F. H. RICHTERKESSING 3,053,635

GARMENT FINISHER SHOULDER ADJUSTING MEANS Filed June 15, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR FRANK H. RICHTERKESSING;

ATTORNEY Oct. 16, 1962 F. H. RICHTERKESSING 3,058,635

GARMENT FINISHER SHOULDER ADJUSTING MEANS Filed June 15, 1959 4 Sheets$heet 4 /O I .Ihi h IIII I I I I 3,, IIIIIIII I I/IIIIII I I I I I I I k F 1T 2/ 7 F/M YK H. K/CH T Lg/I QQZ SNG BY wEsIMM United States Patent 3,058,635 GARMENT FINISI-IER SHOULDER ADJUSTING MEANS Frank H. Richterkessing, Louisville, Ky., assignor to W. M. Cissell Manufacturing Company, Louisville, Ky., a corporation of Kentucky Filed June 15, 1959, Ser. No. 820,528 Claims. (Cl. 22367) This invention relates to garment finishers and more specifically to an improved shoulder adjusting means for use in the shaping of a wide range of sizes and types of garments. In particular, it relates to a finisher having its cooperating elements, including the shoulder adjusting means, so arranged as to reduce the time required of the operator in conducting a cycle of fitting the garment on the apparatus, in performing the finishing treatment, and in removing the finished garment.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved garment finisher having means for readily adjusting the shoulder dimensions of a distendable bag.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent as the description proceeds and when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

'FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a rotatable garment finisher with a bag in position.

FIG. 2. is a perspective view of a lower portion of a finisher showing steam connections.

FIG. 3 is a side elevation view of a vertically adjustable, readily removable front clamp for employment with various sizes of garments.

FIG. 4 is a side elevation of a readily removable rear clamp.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an adaptor mounting for a clamp, the parts being shown in detached relation.

FIG. 6 is a view of the parts shown in FIG. 5 when assembled.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the adjustable slide of a front clamp, taken on line 7-7 of FIG. 8.

FIG. 8 is a vertical section view of the adjustable slide of a front clamp.

FIG. 9 is a sectional view of the mounting of a clamp upon a supporting spring leaf.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the bag supporting inner form detached from the base assembly and showing the shoulder adjusting means with the bag removed.

FIG. 11 is a plan view showing the shoulder arm swivel means.

FIG. 12 is a sectional view of a portion of the base assembly and inner form showing the rotatable mounting arrangement.

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of the form showing a draw cable mounting for selectively adjusting the size of the distendable bag.

FIG. 14 is a view partly in section of a draw cable and associated parts.

FIG. 15 is a view showing the relation of a draw cable locking means in disassembled position.

FIG. 16 is a sectional view showing the position of a draw cable locking means in assembled position.

FIG. 17 is a partial sectional view of the base assembly, and

FIG. 18 is a perspective view of a portion of the base assembly.

Referring first to FIGS. 1 and 2, showing a suitable form finisher with which the shoulder adjusting means is adapted to cooperate, the base assembly includes a main housing 10 receiving a controlled flow of air from a blower 11 driven by a motor 12 through conventional belt and pulley means. A steam supply line 13 leads to a valved steam chamber and to heating coils within the "ice base assembly. A steam return line 14 leads from the assembly and is provided with the customary valves and traps, as needed for a given installation.

A rigidly mounted, upwardly extending, hollow bracket 15 is disposed at one side of the base assembly andcontains the control leads for regulating the operation of motor 12 and of a solenoid housed in box 16 on the main housing. As will later appear, the solenoid functions to regulate the flow of processing steam from the steam chamber into the interior of the finisher bag. A conventional hand actuated, automatic timer '17 is preferably mounted at the extremity of bracket 15 and is so located as to be adjacent the operating control knobs for the draw cables later to be described.

Referring now to FIGS. '17 and 18, housing 15 is provided with a mounting plate 20 having an insulating open space 21 therebeneath and upon which the closed bottom of a vertically mounted steam chamber 22 is adapted to rest. Extending upwardly is a tubular steam chamber conduit 23 having external collars 24 and 25. Each collar is suitably recessed to accommodate a valve actuating rod 26. Steam from line 13 enters the chamber 22 and likewise enters an inverted spiral-shaped coil 27 connected to the chamber and having radiating fins 28. From the upper portion of the coil, steam returns to the outlet line '14. At one side the housing is provided with partitions 29 and 30 to which are attached adjustable air seal members 31 and 32, respectively. A damper 33 pivotally mounted on a transverse support 34 is in contact with these seals while in closed position as shown in FIG. 17 and is raised to the dotted line position under the pressure of the air from blower 11, whenever the motor 12 is operating.

At its top portion, housing 10 mounts a flexible sealing strip 40, preferably of circular shape and which is maintained in contact with the lower surface 0 fthe superimposed form and prevents leakage of air and steam at the base of that form. A bracket 41 at the top of the steam chamber pivotally mounts a valve lever 42 to which the upper end of rod 26 is attached. Movement of that rod downwardly displaces a spring biased valve, not shown, within the steam chamber conduit and permits release of steam through apertures surrounded by a conventional metallic steam spreader 43. Contained within box 16 is a solenoid 44- connected to a crank lever 45 on one end of shaft 46. At its other end, the shaft 46 is connected to a second crank lever 47 attached to the lower end of rod 26.

Upon actuation of the automatic timer 17, the solenoid is energized to open the valve in the steam chamber and to permit steam to escape through spreader 43. Due to seals 31, 3-2 and 40, this steam can escape only through the pervious bag itself. At the end of the allotted time, the solenoid is made inoperative and the motor 12 is energized, thus causing the blower to force air against damper 33 which lifts and permits the air to pass over the heating coils and into the bag. After the motor is cut OE, the damper drops back to closed position without requiring any effort on the part of the operator.

Passing now to FIGS. 10 and 11, the rotatable inner form for supporting the finishing bag preferably includes an elongated front support member 50 extending from a generally circular perforated bottom plate 51 to a shoulder form section 52. A rear support member 53 likewise extends between -the bottom plate and shoulder form.

Intermediate the front and rear members and fixed thereto, a main cross member 54 and a smaller cross member 55 are disposed, thus serving to establish a stable truss-like construction for the form. At a central location, the main cross member has a cup-like bearing 56 (-FIG. 12) which fits upon the upper bearing surface of a collar and permits rotary motion of the form with respect to the base assembly. At a central location the bottom plate 51 is formed with a bushing 57 which surrounds the lower collar 24 and gives lateral stability to the rotatable form. A suitable framework 53 is mounted upon cross member 54 and a porous steam bafile 59, such as a small asbestos bag, may be readily hung thereover, in enveloping rotation to the steam distributor 43. This bafile serves to prevent globules of condensed steam from being forced outwardly into contact with the finisher bag.

The invention provides an improved means for selectively adjusting the dimensions of the shoulder form member whereby the operator may effect such adjustment by a simple rotation of a knob rather than by pressing or pulling upon a lever. For example, this knob is within easy reach at all times and may be manipulated regardless of the relative position of the rotatable inner form with respect to stationary base assembly. Thus, if the operator chooses to adjust the shoulder size immediately before or after working with the rear clamp, he may do so without having to turn the form back to another position. As seen in FIGS. 10 and 11, a pair of shoulder arms and 61 are disposed for reciprocating movement with respect to the shoulder form 52. These arms are mounted respectively upon pivotal rods 62 and 63 causing the arms to move in arcuate paths, and also have looped garment guides 64 and 65 respectively. These guides are fixed at a lower end to their respective rods and at their upper ends to the entire exposed end of their respective shoulder arms. Accordingly, as a garment is removed from the collapsed finisher bag, no portion of the garment can engage the shoulder arms and thus no wrinkles are caused during this garment removal step. Moreover, the operator is not required to remove the garment slowly in order to prevent snagging of the same on the shoulder form.

The rods 62 and 63 are pivotally mounted at their lower ends in brackets 66 and 67 disposed upon the cross member 55 of the form (FIG. 11). At its uppermost position exterior of the finisher bag, the shoulder form has a rotatable knob 70 to which is attached a shaft 71 rotatable therewith and extending downwardly through a mounting plate 72 located between the front and rear support members of the for-m. A suitable spring 73 disposed between the plate and the end of the rotatable shaft serves to prevent inadvertent shifting of the shoulder arms. It is contemplated that when the garment finisher is employed for treating numerous garments of the same size successively, a series of detents (not shown) will be provided for knob 70 so that fitting and removal of garments will not disturb the dimension of the shoulder form after the knob is engaged with a selected detent.

Adjacent plate 72, the shaft 71 has a swivel arm 74 attached thereto near its center and having oppositely directed lever arms, as seen in FIG. 11, extending outwardly from the axis of the shaft. These lever arms are connected by links 75 and 76 to the pivotal rods 62 and 63 at a point intermediate the ends of these rods. Accordingly, rotation of knob 70 in a clockwise direction, for example, decreases the width of the adjustable shoulder form and rotation in a counter-clockwise direction increases that width.

At the front side of the rotatable inner form an upstanding draw cable mounting framework 80 is rigidly mounted adjacent the bottom member 51. At the rear side a mounting bracket 81 for a rear clamp is provided. The framework preferably serves to mount three draw cable control knobs 82, 83 and 84, later to be described and is provided with a suitable recess into which the lever 85 of a front clamp may be conveniently housed.

Referring now to FIG. 13, the bag is adapted to be supported upon a bag size adjusting means including a first flexible wire 90, termed a waist wire and mounted at a suitable upper location on the form structure. It will be understood that this wire, as well as the others to be described, is threaded through a peripheral cloth guide (not shown) in the interior of the finisher bag 100 which is of a conventional material, such as nylon, or the like, and pervious to processing fluids. The wire is passed through suitable eyelets 91 and 92 mounted on the front support member 50 and is threaded through the double pulley 93. One end of the wire is anchored to the form on one side of that pulley and the other end is anchored to the form at the other side of the pulley. Movement of the pulley upwardly or downwardly serves to increase or decrease the periphery of the bag at the region where the wire is affixed. Since the wire is slidably attached to the bag, processing fluid entering the bag under superatmospheric pressure distends the bag, and the garment fitted thereon, to the extent permitted by the position of the wire.

Beneath pulley 93, a suitable lost motion device, such as swivel 94, connects with a flexible push-pull cable 95 (FIG. 14) encased in a guide casing 96 suitably mounted on the form structure. The entire cable is thus mounted upon a unitary structure and terminates in the waist control knob 84. Since it is important to lock the cable in position after having made an adjustment of the bag size and yet to be able to make a subsequent adjustment without undue loss of time, there is provided a cable locking means as shown in FIGS. 14 to 16. For this purpose, the control knob is attached to a slide rod 97 having a non-circular cross section. This rod extends through a clutch nut 98 which is threaded upon sleeve 99 held in place upon the top of framework 80 by a plate lock nut 101. A metal clutch washer 102 backed by a resilient bushing 103, such as a nylon material, is disposed between the clutch nut 98 and the threaded sleeve 99. The apertures in clutch nut 98 and in metal washer 102, through which the rod 97 extends, conform in cross section to the cross sectional shape of the rod, so that they rotate together. Accordingly, when the wire 90 is adjusted to a desired periphery, turning of knob 84 through about 90180 locks the draw cable in position and when it is desired to readjust the wire 90, turning the knob in a reverse direction the same amount releases the pressure of the clutch nut and permits the knob and attached cable to be pushed or pulled through the nut 98. The swivel 94, of course, permits this locking and unlocking action to occur without causing a turning of pulley 93 and a kinking of the wire attached thereto.

In a similar manner, a bag "adjusting means including a wire 110, termed a hip control wire, is slidably attached to the finisher bag and through pulley 111 is operated by draw cable 112, terminating in the control knob 82. Likewise, a bag adjusting means including wire 113, termed a lower control Wire, is slidably attached to the bag and through pulley 114 is operated by draw cable 115 terminating in control knob 83. It will be understood that the above described bag adjusting means serves at all times to hold the upper portion of the bag snugly against the shoulder form member 52 and against the portion of shoulder arms 60 and 61 which are serving to establish the chosen shape of the shoulder portion of the garment.

As is customary in finishing buttoned garments, or

F garments having vents therein, it is desirable, if not essential, that means be provided to clamp the garment to the distended bag during the operation.

Both front and rear clamps accordingly are provided and preferably comprise a resilient metal paddle, or the like, having parallel spaced side surfaces, and 121 (FIG. 9) joined by a recessed central portion 122 and pivotally mounted by suitable brackets at the extremity of a leaf spring 123. The paddle is loosely covered by a suitable fabric 124, such as a twill which is pervious to the processing fluids. At its lower end, the leaf spring is mounted upon movable lever 85 which in turn is pivoted upon bracket 81, in the case of the rear clamp and upon framework 80 in the case of the front clamp. At its upper end, lever 85 has a transverse pin 125 upon which a handle 126 is pivotally mounted and is provided with a spaced pin 127 mounting the upper end of a latch rod 128 in a toggle-like arrangement. This rod extends downwardly within the lever confines and terminates in a suitable latch engaging member. For convenience in manufacturing and interchangeability, the actuating means for both the front and rear clamps, as thus described, are preferably identical and the same references are accordingly applied to both structures.

As seen in FIGS. 3, 7, and 8, the front clamp preferably comprises an elongated paddle with the side surfaces 120 and 121 joined by the recessed central position 122 and carrying a pair of upper and lower brackets 144 and 145, respectively. A clamp slide 146 is pivotally attached to the upper end of leaf spring 123 and each of brackets 144- and 145 is provided with a suitable abutment, such as rod 147. Bearing against these abutment rods are resilient slide clips such as shown at 149 having 'suflicient compression strength to hold the front clamp at the selected position with respect to the clamp slide. It is to be understood that the operator, upon observing the size of garment to be finished, will normally slide the front clamp upwardly or downwardly on the clamp slide to a selected position, prior to operating the lever 85.

To enhance the adaptability of the finisher to use in large commercial establishments in which a large number of garments of the same type requiring no rear, or front clamp, or either clamp, is needed, there is provided a means for quickly removing or attaching these clamps to the form. As noted in FIGS. 3 and 4, either of the front and rear clamps may have lever 85 mounted in a special adaptor 160 rather than being mounted directly upon framework 80 or bracket 81. In this modification, the lever 85 may have a threaded bolt 161 (FIG. 5) extending outwardly. The hollow adaptor 160 is pivotally mounted by means of a bolt passing through aperture 162 and extending into the walls of the appropriate framework 80 or bracket 81. Near its upper portion, the adaptor has a slotted cover 163 for receiving bolt 161, the latch engaging member meanwhile extending below the lower extremity of adaptor. A simple Wing nut 164 engaging with bolt 161 exteriorly of cover 163 serves to permit rapid engagement or disengagement of the lever 85. Since this lever mounts the entire clamp, it will be seen that the finisher may be quickly modified by adding or removing the clamps as desired.

While I have shown particular embodiments of the shoulder adjusting feature of the invention, it will be understood, of course, that I do not wish to be limited thereto since many modifications may be made. I, therefore, con-template, by the appended claims, to cover any such modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of my invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a garment finisher having a bag for shaping a garment, a base assembly having means for selectively supplying processing fluids into said bag, an inner form rotatably mounted upon said assembly, a shoulder form member mounted upon said inner form and within said bag, a pair of shoulder arms mounted at opposite sides of said shoulder form member for movement toward and away therefrom, a pair of rods inclined from the vertical and attached at their respective upper ends to each of the respective arms and pivotally mounted at their respective lower ends upon said inner form, a generally vertical rotatable shaft extending through said shoulder form member and having a knob attached to said shaft exteriorly of said bag, a generally horizontal oscillatable swivel arm affixed adjacent its center to said shaft and having means connected to each of said rods intermediate the ends thereof for actuating said shoulder arms as said shaft is rotated, and means in contact with said shaft and serving to hold said shaft in a predetermined position until said shaft is moved by rotation of said knob.

2. In a garment finisher having a bag for shaping a garment, a base assembly having means for selectively supplying processing fluids into said bag, an inner form rotatably mounted upon said assembly, a shoulder form member mounted upon said inner form and within said bag, a pair of shoulder arms mounted at opposite sides of said shoulder form member for movement toward and away therefrom, a pair of rods inclined from the vertical and attached at their respective upper ends to each of the respective arms and pivotally mounted at their respective lower ends upon said inner form, a generally vertical rotatable shaft extending through said shoulder form member and having a knob attached to said shaft exteriorly of said bag, a plate attached to said inner form and serving to mount the lower end of said shaft, a generally horizontal oscillatable swivel arm afiixed adjacent its center to said shaft above said plate and having means connected to each of said rods intermediate the ends thereof for actuating said shoulder arms as said shaft is rotated, and means in contact with said shaft and serving to hold said shaft in a predetermined position until moved by rotation of said knob.

3. Apparatus as defined in claim 2 wherein said last mentioned means comprises a spring disposed in contact with said shaft and said plate and surrounding the lower end of said shaft.

4. Apparatus as defined in claim 1 including a pair of guide elements affixed to the respective arms adjacent the extreme outer ends thereof and to the respective rods, and serving to guide a garment without snagging upon said shoulder arms while being removed from said bag.

5. In a garment finisher having a bag for shaping a garment, a base assembly having means for selectively supplying processing fluids into said bag, an inner form rotatably mounted upon said assembly, a shoulder form member mounted upon said inner form and within said bag, a pair of shoulder arms mounted at opposite sides of said shoulder form member for movement in an arcuate path toward and away therefrom, a generally vertical rotatable shaft extending through said shoulder form member and having a knob attached to said shaft exteriorly of said bag, a generally horizontal oscillatable swivel arm affixed adjacent its center to said shaft below said shoulder form member and having oppositely directed lever arms extending outwardly from the axis of said shaft, spring means for holding said shaft and its attached swivel arm in a selected angular position with respect to said shoulder form member until said shaft is rotated by rotation of said knob, and actuating means connecting the respective lever arms to the respective shoulder arms whereby upon oscillation of said swivel arm in one direction by turning of said knob, said shoulder arms are moved outwardly from said shoulder form member and upon oscillation in the other direction said shoulder arms are moved inwardly toward said shoulder form member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 427,991 Hobday May 13, 1890 2,273,743 Weinstein Feb. 17, 1942 2,367,171 Kroll Jan. 9, 1945 2,736,471 Jackson Feb. 28, 1956 2,925,944 Inserillo Feb. 23, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS 320,550 France Apr. 19, 1902 542,589 France May 19, 1922 

